coalition government at the national level following the 1989 Indian general election. In 1990 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Janata Dal won the largest number of seats and sought to form government with the outside support of BJP and Communists. Das was a contender for Chief Ministership pitted against Raghunath Jha and Lalu Prasad Yadav. Yadav was supported by Devi Lal and Nitish Kumar, Jha by Chandra Shekhar and Das by Prime Minister, VP Singh. Lalu Yadav had campaigned vastly in favour for implementing Mandal Commission, which sought to reserve government jobs for backward castes in Central government jobs. Das was less keen on this. VP Singh's support of Das was interpreted as a lack of enthusiasm for this form of social engineering. Nitish Kumar rallied backward caste MLAs towards Yadav. In the election, Yadav won narrowly over Das by a vote of 59 to 56. Jha won 12, mostly upper caste MLAs. Ironically he joined Chandra Shekhar's Samajwadi Janata Party around 1995 though Chandra Shekhar had opposed his candidature for CM's post. Ram Sundar Das remained with that party until 2008, and in another twist joined Janata Dal (United) that time, though those people had also opposed his candidature for CM's post back in 1990. He died on 6 March 2015 at the age of 94. Electoral record 1957 : lost from Hajipur (Lok Sabha constituency) in 1957 Indian general election, as Socialist Party (India) candidate 1968-1977 : Member of Bihar Legislative Council. 1977 : Lost Lok Sabha election from Hajipur as an independent, coming fourth and getting just 3,449 votes 1977 : Elected to Bihar Legislative Assembly from Sonpur (Vidhan Sabha constituency) (सोनपुर) Served as Chief Minister of Bihar in 1979 1980 : Came third as Janata Party candidate in Sonpur, losing to Lalu Yadav of Janata Party (Secular) 1984 : Lost Lok Sabha election from Palamu seat as Janata Party candidate, then in Bihar and now in Jharkhand. 1985 : Lost Bihar Vidhan Sabha election from Garkha (SC) seat, as Janata Party's candidate 1990 : Elected to Bihar Vidhan Sabha from Patepur. Vacated the seat next year when elected to Lok Sabha. 1991 : Elected to Lok Sabha from Hajipur, as Janata Dal candidate 1996 : Lost Lok Sabha election from Hajipur as Samata Party (led by Uday Mandal its President) candidate, but he could be a different person with the same name. Das was probably never a